CS:GO FACEIT Major: London 2018 Preview

28 August 2018 15:57

Over 10,000 fans will be packed into Wembley’s SSE Arena in London to see eight Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) teams compete for the lion’s share of a $1 million prize pool at FACEIT Major: London 2018. There’s plenty of gaming to be done in what is an action-packed schedule involving 24 teams in the second Major of 2018.

Find out here what you have to look forward to in one of the undoubted highlights of the eSports calendar, and the first ever CS:GO Major to be held in the UK.

How Will It Work?

The action begins on 5th September with The New Challengers Stage, held over a five-day period. 16 teams will battle it out in a swiss-system format, with best-of-one Round 1 to 4 matches, and best-of-three Round 5 clashes. The top eight teams will progress through to The New Legends stage, and the bottom eight teams will be eliminated.

All eyes will then be focused on The New Legends Stage between 12th and 16th September, which also follows a 16-team swiss-system format. The eight teams to make it through The New Challengers Stage will be joined by the top eight teams from ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. A Bucholz seeding system will seed Round 3 to 5 matches in both these stages, ranking teams based on the opponents’ performance.

Like The New Challengers Stage, the top eight teams will advance to The New Champions Stage. The New Champions Stage, held between 20th and 23rd September, is a single-elimination bracket play-off and all games, including the grand final, are best-of-three.

Who Is Competing?

The following 16 teams have all received direct invitations to Wembley after they finished in the top 16 positions in Boston. The top eight teams from that Major, listed below, have received a bye into the New Legends Stage so don’t have to compete in The New Challengers Stage.

Natus Vincere

FaZe Cla

mousesports

MIB

Fnati

Cloud

G2 Esports

Winstrike Tea

The following eight teams will enter proceedings at The New Challengers Stage after finishing in the bottom eight positions in Boston:

Astralis

Team Liquid

Nort

BIG

Space Soldiers

Virtus.pro

Gambit Esports

Vega Squadron

The eight sides below have all secured their spots having successfully come through regional qualifying campaigns, and will also begin at The New Challengers stage. Their qualification regions are shown below:

Ninjas in Pyjamas – Europe

HellRaisers – Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

OpTic Gaming – Europe

TyLoo – Asia

Renegades – Asia

compLexity Gaming – Americas

Rogue – Americas

Team Spirit – Commonwealth of Independent States

The Prize Pool

The $1 million prize pool is split between the top 16 teams, based on their overall standing at the end of the Major:

1st place - $500,000

2nd place - $150,000

3rd-4th place - $70,000

5th-8th place - $35,000

9th-16th place - $8,750

Who Will Come Out On Top?

Astralis are understandably pre-tournament favourites with many of the bookmakers, and the Danish outfit will go into action as one of the world’s form teams. The Europeans, led by Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, have swept all before them in 2018 and are currently ranked as the best team in the world. They’ve triumphed in four tournaments this year, including DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 and the Esports Championship Series Season 5 – Finals. Coached by Danny "zonic" Sørensen, Astralis will undoubtedly be one to watch in London, and their presence is largely why a European team are odds-on to go all the way.

However, it isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion that Astralis will continue their imperious winning streak. There are other teams - and players - who are more than capable of challenging the Danish quintet. Cloud9 are the defending champions, Natus Vincere have Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev - arguably heralded as the world’s best CS:GO player – in their ranks, and Fnatic are taking their place in their 13th consecutive Major. These names should still be there or thereabouts come the business end of proceedings.

Good luck to all competing teams, and let us know on Facebook and Twitter who you are backing to go all the way!